Berkin Elvan’s funeral services, which were held at the Okmeydani Cemevi on 12 March, once again raised the question of why all six youths killed during the Gezi Protests—or, if we are to approach the Gezi process within a broader framework, why seven out of eight youths killed—were Alevîs. Inde..
Ayfer Karakaya-Stump
Ayfer Karakaya-Stump is an assistant professor of history at the College of William and Mary. Her scholarly interests include the social and cultural history of Ottoman Anatolia, Ottoman-Safavid borderlands, Sufism, nonconformist and dissident religious movements, and the Alevi/Bektashi communities, as well as the history of women and gender in the Middle East.